Published 6:40 pm, Friday, January 3, 2014

In the week between Christmas and the New Year, 1.3 million jobless workers in America lost their unemployment benefits, 26,000 here in Connecticut. Nearly 2 million additional people will lose these benefits over the next six months, and by the end of 2014 that number is estimated to be 4.9 million, including 85,000 Connecticut residents.

That's because Congress failed to extend into 2014 the provisions of the 2008 Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program. The program, a critical element in the federal response to the recession, allowed unemployed workers to receive benefits well beyond the usual 26 weeks.

Extension of unemployment benefits should be a no-brainer.

These benefits are a cost-effective way to maintain demand for goods and services, which stimulates job creation in a weak economy. Conversely, estimates are that ending the purchasing power of 1.3 million unemployed workers could cost our country as many as 300,000 jobs. And that's not taking into account the cost of such cuts in terms of the hardship inflicted upon the long-term unemployed and their families who struggle to make ends meet while trying to find jobs that don't exist.

No-brainer?

Here's another one: adequate funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). A 2010 United States Department of Agriculture research report found that an increase of $1 billion in SNAP expenditures increases economic activity by an estimated $1.79 billion. Every $5 in SNAP benefits generates as much as $9 in economic activity.

As part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), SNAP benefits were increased by 13.6 percent as a way of alleviating hardship while delivering an economic stimulus with a high bang-for-the-buck. Like the EUC program, this increase in benefits was a critical response to the recession.

But two months ago, SNAP recipients -- about 48 million people -- experienced substantial cuts when the increased ARRA benefits were allowed to expire. For a family of four, this meant a loss of about $430 a year. For those who live in poverty, as do the vast majority of SNAP recipients, this is a lot of money.

More than 80 percent of SNAP households have incomes below the federal poverty line ($23,550 a year for a family of four), while some 40 percent of these households live in deep poverty, with incomes below half this poverty line.

Eighty-seven percent of SNAP recipients live in households with children, seniors, or people with disabilities. In fact, more than one in four of all children in America -- more than 21 million children -- live in a household that receives SNAP benefits. More than 9 million elderly persons, or people with disabilities, are also SNAP recipients.

The cutback means that SNAP benefits now average less than $1.40 per person per meal, making it increasingly difficult for families to put food on the table.

As if this were not enough, when Congress reconvenes this week, the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will enter conference negotiations on the Farm Bill, which includes reauthorization of SNAP. This will result in even deeper cuts. The House version proposes SNAP cuts of nearly $40 billion over the next 10 years, denying benefits to approximately 3.8 million people in 2014 and an average of 3 million people each year over the coming decade. The Senate version would cut $4.1 billion over 10 years, with benefits dropping by an average of $90 a month for nearly 500,000 households.

Whatever the final numbers, we'll feel the cuts here at home. Connecticut has over 400,000 SNAP recipients, with 1,392 living in Greenwich and 9,115 in Stamford. Forty-seven percent of Stamford's public school students qualify for free or reduced school meals, as do 20.1 percent of Greenwich students.

Neighbor To Neighbor, our local food pantry, already feeds more than 1,000 people each month. Our social services department serves 1,400 Greenwich households, or between 3,500 and 4,000 people. SNAP cutbacks and the loss of unemployment benefits will increase demand and strain local public and private resources everywhere.

Washington Republicans, waging war on the poor, have no heart. But investment in our human resources should be a no-brainer. Maybe they also have no brains.